When the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market opened in 1993, the Embarcadero Freeway had been leveled, but the Ferry Building was still a collection of offices.

When the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market opened in 1993, the Embarcadero Freeway had been leveled, but the Ferry Building was still a collection of offices.

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

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Shoppers can find a bounty of choices at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, including Zuckerman's Farm asparagus, top, and snap peas and spring onions at the Everything Under the Sun stall, which is one of the market's original vendors. less

Shoppers can find a bounty of choices at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, including Zuckerman's Farm asparagus, top, and snap peas and spring onions at the Everything Under the Sun stall, which is one of the ... more

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

Image 7 of 12

Shoppers can find a bounty of choices at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, including Zuckerman's Farm asparagus, top, and snap peas and spring onions at the Everything Under the Sun stall, which is one of the market's original vendors. less

Shoppers can find a bounty of choices at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, including Zuckerman's Farm asparagus, top, and snap peas and spring onions at the Everything Under the Sun stall, which is one of the ... more

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

Image 8 of 12

Stan Devoto, center, of Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol, has diversified his heirloom apple ranch to also grow flowers and make cider so he can sell at the market year-round.

Stan Devoto, center, of Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol, has diversified his heirloom apple ranch to also grow flowers and make cider so he can sell at the market year-round.

Photo: Craig Lee, Special To The Chronicle

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Tatiyana Woodward, 17, and Anthony Perez, 16, from Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island at their Schoolyard to Market stand.

Tatiyana Woodward, 17, and Anthony Perez, 16, from Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island at their Schoolyard to Market stand.

Photo: Craig Lee, Special To The Chronicle

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Bill Crepps of "Everything Under the Sun," with customer, Patricia Unterman (left), at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market as seen in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 2013.

Bill Crepps of "Everything Under the Sun," with customer, Patricia Unterman (left), at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market as seen in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 2013.

Photo: Craig Lee, Special To The Chronicle

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Anthony Perez, 16, (right) of Schoolyard to Market showing a customer a plant at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market as seen in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 2013.

Anthony Perez, 16, (right) of Schoolyard to Market showing a customer a plant at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market as seen in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 2013.

Photo: Craig Lee, Special To The Chronicle

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Jolie Devoto Wade and her father, Stan Devoto of Devoto Gardens at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market as seen in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 2013.

Jolie Devoto Wade and her father, Stan Devoto of Devoto Gardens at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market as seen in San Francisco, California, on April 27, 2013.

Photo: Craig Lee, Special To The Chronicle

Ferry Plaza market cultivates revolution

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It's become such a San Francisco icon that it's hard to imagine a time it wasn't here. Yet things were very different when the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market opened in 1993.

The Ferry Building was cut up into offices, and the elevated Embarcadero Freeway had only recently been torn down after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. San Francisco had just two other farmers' markets - Alemany, and the Heart of the City in Civic Center - rather than the 20-plus that now operate in the city.

Fast forward 20 years to a Saturday morning at the Ferry Building. Five minutes before the market's 8 a.m. opening, regulars start arriving to get their weekly fill of Eatwell Farm pastured eggs and White Crane greens. Chefs push around carts laden with baby cabbages and herbs as they compose the night's menu. Later in the morning, tourists begin to fill the market's aisles to ogle just-picked asparagus and sample fragrant strawberries.

"If I don't go, I feel very unhappy," says attorney Judith Ganz, who drives in every week from Oakland and recently celebrated her 65th birthday by gathering friends together at the market. "I actually try to plan vacations so I don't miss a Saturday."

Beyond tantalizing home cooks, tourists and chefs, it's hard to overstate the market's impact - part of which is due to its emphasis on education and sustainability.

"The Ferry Plaza has helped lead the way in deepening and enriching the food culture of this city," says Annie Somerville, executive chef of Greens Restaurant.

Although a few other Bay Area farmers' markets are older, Ferry Plaza "is like the mother market to all the neighborhood markets that have spawned over the years," she says. "It kind of set off a farmers' market revolution."

Regional gathering spot

Together with the revitalized Ferry Building, the market is also a social hub for the Bay Area, says Jasper Rubin, a former city planner and assistant professor of urban studies and planning at San Francisco State University.

"The farmers' market participants come from around the region, which underscores the nature of the Ferry Building and the plaza as a gathering spot and as a meeting place for the region. It's in a central location for the Bay Area," Rubin says.

Even if "farm-to-table" has become a Bay Area cliche, that's not something that farmers in any of the market's notoriously hard-to-get stalls would complain about.

"This is still our best market. We have a lot of exposure," says Stan Devoto of Devoto Gardens, a Sebastopol heirloom apple grower who has been around since the market's beginnings.

Considering the market's estimated 25,000 visitors on a peak summer Saturday, it's hard to believe that the Port of San Francisco was once hesitant about allowing organizers to launch it in front of the Ferry Building, which at the time was far from a pleasant destination.

"It was a pretty grim place, certainly with the freeway up, and even with it down," says the market's founding director, Sibella Kraus, a former Chez Panisse cook who had been involved in restaurant-farmer initiatives through the 1980s.

Bayside setting

The goal of Kraus and her fellow organizers was to create a public market modeled on Pike Place in Seattle and others in Europe and Asia. The Ferry Building was not the only location they had in mind. Piers 15/17, now the home of the Exploratorium, and Piers 30/32, where the Warriors plan to build their new arena, were also considered.

Before the Ferry Building's redevelopment plan was finalized, the group organized a one-day harvest market in September 1992 in an open area adjacent to Justin Herman Plaza across the Embarcadero from the Ferry Building.

When the festival attracted more than 100 farmers, 16 food vendors and around 10,000 visitors, the port agreed to allow a permanent market to open the following May in the same spot.

It was a little slow at first, and farmers complained that too many single people were coming and buying a single peach.

"Everybody looked hopeful, but a little hesitant," says Lynne Raider, a longtime weekly shopper, of those first markets. "But the leadership was very convincing that this was something that was going to happen."

To attract more families, the market started offering cooking classes for children and other educational programming. In 1994, market organizers founded the nonprofit Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture, which still operates the market. To sell at the market, farmers had to meet certain sustainability standards.

In 1995, CUESA added a weekly Tuesday market. Soon, redevelopment plans for the Ferry Building were finalized, with the market as an anchoring tenant. But when reconstruction on the Embarcadero started, the Saturday market relocated to a nearby parking lot on Green Street for several years. With the opening of the Ferry Building Marketplace in 2003, the market could move into a permanent home.

Over the years, the overall number of farmers and vendors has been pretty consistent, says CUESA Executive Director Dave Stockdale, though there has been an increase in farmers who come year-round rather than just seasonally.

"What they discovered is they were developing their audience, then they'd leave (during winter), and then when they came back, they'd have to fight to regain their audience. It was a better business model for them to diversify their crops," he says.

Some farmers added lettuces and root crops to sell during winter, for example. Bill Crepps of Everything Under the Sun in Winters, another of the market's original vendors, added dried tomatillos and dehydrated smoked garlic to his line of fresh vegetables, which also suits tourists who can't bring home fresh tomatoes.

A place for ideas

While some of the market's farmers also sell wholesale, many chefs prefer to go to the market for inspiration.

"It's one thing to read a list of what Green Gulch has to offer. It's another thing to be there and see it and taste it," says Somerville of Greens.

Some longtime market vendors are getting new energy from the second generation. Jolie Devoto Wade, 25, grew up at the market helping her father, Stan, and will eventually take over the farm. In the meantime she and her husband, Hunter Wade, started a cider business using apples that can't be sold as fruit. They sold 1,100 cases of their Apple Sauced cider in their first year and are increasing production 500 percent.

"We cannot fill the demand right now," says Devoto Wade.

The market has long been an incubator for artisan food businesses like Far West Fungi, Prather Ranch Meat Co., Recchiuti Chocolates, Miette bakery, Blue Bottle Coffee and soon Rancho Gordo, all of which started as market stalls and now have stores inside the Ferry Building, which is under different management than the market. Other vendors, like Hodo Soy Beanery, Tacolicious and 4505 Meats first gained an audience at the market and now run brick-and-mortar businesses elsewhere.

Though CUESA is best known for its markets, it continues its educational mission with programs like Schoolyard to Market, which gives three San Francisco public high schools with vegetable gardens the chance to sell their produce at the market, gaining both farming and retail experience.

CUESA also funds continued education for its vendors, including sending farmers to agriculture conferences like EcoFarm. It recently branched out into policy advocacy by supporting the GMO labeling initiative Prop 37.

Many locals complain about the market's crowds and high prices, and with more neighborhood farmers' markets, fewer need to make the trek to the Embarcadero.

"We think it's a good thing to have more markets," says Stockdale. "But in the scheme of it, (only) a small proportion of people go to farmers' markets. How can we reach a wider audience?"

Yet a visit to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is still a meaningful experience for many locals. Raider, one of the market's original customers, shops at the market every week despite suffering from Parkinson's disease, getting there around 7 a.m. to nab a parking spot and a cart.

"I've found the attachment to seasonality and all that is represented here in California is kind of a religious experience," she says. "It offers me more solace than organized religion can do."

Chronicle staff writer Sarah Fritsche created some of the recipes for this story.

See recipes on Pages G6-G7

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market rundown

Here are details about the market and upcoming events celebrating the market's 20th anniversary. All events are at San Francisco's Ferry Building. For more information and to buy tickets, go to www.cuesa.org.

Markets: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Saturdays, 8 a.m.- 2 p.m. Credit cards are accepted at many stalls, or can be used to buy $1 wooden coins good at at any market stall; available at the info booth in front of the market.

Cocktails of the Farmers Market: May 15, 5:30-8 p.m. Bartenders and chefs will create drinks and bites using seasonal ingredients. Tickets $40.

Baby Lettuces With Peas, Radishes & Creamy Roasted Onion Dressing

Serves 6 to 8

This springtime salad uses fresh, seasonal greens from Bill Crepps' Everything Under the Sun's farmers' market stand, including arugula flowers and minutina - a hardy specialty green, also known as erba stella, staghorn and buckshorn plantain; as well as his homemade dehydrated smoked garlic. You can substitute your favorite salad greens and arugula, and make your own garlic chips (see instructions below).

1 bunch arugula flowers, or other edible flowers, such as thyme flowers, removed from stem (optional)

2 to 3 tablespoons smoked dried garlic, lightly crushed (see Note)

-- Flaked sea salt, such as Maldon

To make the dressing: Preheat the oven to 375°. Place the onions on a small sheet pan, rub with olive oil and season with a generous pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast the onions until soft and caramelized, 20-25 minutes. Check periodically and turn as needed to caramelize evenly. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

Finely chop the roasted onions and place in a medium bowl. Add the creme fraiche, buttermilk, lemon juice and vinegar. Whisk together until combined and season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Makes about 1 cup.)

To assemble the salad: Toss together the lettuce and greens in a large bowl; divide evenly among chilled serving plates. Top each salad with a few radish pieces and a generous sprinkle of peas. Drizzle the dressing on top of each salad and garnish with the arugula flowers, smoked garlic and Maldon sea salt. Serve immediately.

Note: If the peas are young and sweet enough, add them to the salad raw. For older peas, quickly blanch in a pot of salted, boiling water; drain and shock the peas in an ice water bath. If also making the pod stock for the fava stew (see recipe), reserve the pea shells.

You can substitute Everything Under the Sun's smoked garlic by making your own roasted garlic "chips." Thinly slice 4 large garlic cloves lengthwise, toss with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil, a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spread evenly on a small sheet pan and roast at 375° until golden brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Keep a close eye on the garlic and stir about halfway through the roasting time to keep from burning.

Tierra Vegetables Heirloom Polenta With Fava Stew & Harissa

Serves 6

This makes the most of Tierra Vegetables' seasonal fava beans and a whole-grain heirloom cornmeal called Bloody Butcher, but you can substitute other polenta. The farm's harissa sauce mix, made from its own dried peppers, calls for minced garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, or you can substitute prepared harissa (see Note).

For the stew: Prepare an ice water bath. Bring a medium pot of salted water to boil.

Cook the fava beans in the boiling water until barely tender, 3 minutes. Plunge into the ice water bath, let cool, then peel.

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Saute the spring onion bulbs and all of the green garlic until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the onion greens and cook until fully wilted, 5 minutes.

Add the fava beans and stock and bring to a simmer; cook until the flavors come together, 5 minutes. Season with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

For the polenta: In a medium saucepan, bring the stock and water to a boil with the salt. Pour in the polenta in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the grains are tender, 25 minutes for regular polenta, 45 minutes for Bloody Butcher or other whole-grain polenta.

Adjust the seasoning to taste and keep warm, stirring occasionally.

For the harissa sauce: In a small bowl, combine the harissa sauce with enough water or oil to make it thin enough to drizzle. (You will have leftover harissa sauce, which holds, tightly covered, for 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator.)

To serve: Spoon the polenta into bowls, top with the stew and dot with the harissa sauce.

Fava-Pea Pod Stock

This stock makes use of the pods leftover from shelling English peas and fava beans. Use it for the polenta recipe above or whenever vegetable broth is called for.

-- Pods from 1 pound English peas

-- Pods from 1 pound fava beans

4 quarts water

1 cup coarsely chopped onion and/or spring onion greens

Instructions: Place the ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a low simmer. Cook 30 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer. Let cool and refrigerate for up to 1 week before using.

Eatwell Farm Eggs Baked With Melted Green Garlic, Herbs & Goat Cheese

Serves 6

Eatwell Farm in Dixon, one of the original Ferry Plaza Farmers Market vendors, sells pastured eggs in addition to flowers and a wide range of fruit and vegetables. This recipe makes use of the spring onions, green garlic, dill and other herbs now in season.

-- Butter to grease the pan

6 pastured eggs

2 bunches green garlic (3 to 5 stalks)

4 spring onions

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh dill

4 teaspoons chopped fresh winter savory or thyme

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, + more to taste

-- Freshly ground pepper

-- Juice of 1 lemon

6 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

-- Crostini or other toasts, to serve

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 400°. Use butter to grease a gratin dish or other baking dish, or 6 individual gratin dishes. Bring the eggs to room temperature.

Halve and thinly slice the green garlic and spring onion bulbs and greens, keeping them separate.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the green garlic and onion bulbs and cook, stirring, until tender, 5-8 minutes. Add the leafy greens and continue cooking until very soft, about 20 minutes total.

Stir in the cream, dill, winter savory, salt and pepper and simmer until thick, 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with lemon juice and more salt to taste.

Pour the green garlic mixture into the prepared baking pan and spread to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Use a ladle or other large spoon to make 6 wells in the mixture, each with a rim around it. Crack an egg into each well and season the eggs with salt and pepper, then sprinkle the goat cheese on the green garlic mixture, around the eggs.

Bake until the egg whites are just set and the yolks are still a bit runny, about 15 minutes. Serve warm with toasts.

Poached Cherries & Rhubarb With Vanilla & Pink Peppercorn

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

Serve this dessert topping over sliced pound cake with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The peppercorns make a nice counterpoint to the fruit's sweetness. Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

2 cups dry white wine

1/2 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 teaspoon crushed pink peppercorns + more for garnish

12 ounces cherries, pitted and halved

12 ounces rhubarb, cut on a bias into 3/4-inch pieces

Instructions: Combine wine, sugar, vanilla and peppercorns in a 10-inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves and the poaching liquid has reduced by about half, about 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer, add cherries and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the rhubarb and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir very gently to keep the rhubarb pieces as intact as possible.

Remove from heat and set aside to cool until ready to use. The sauce can be served cold or at room temperature. When serving over dessert, garnish with a sprinkle of freshly crushed pink peppercorns.